The Lost Cross
by Akai Apple
Summary: [IchiIshi] Now healed by Orihime, Uryuu wants to leave the Clinic but Ichigo denies the action and sets to treating him further. Being alone with Ichigo for so long has got Uryuu thinking about the two of them... And Ichigo seems to be doing the same...
1. KI: What a Wreck

BY: Amagumo (Rain Cloud)

Ichigo/Uryû Story!

Bleach doesn't belong to me. That's a good thing.

Whee!! Here we go-o-o-o!

.Kurosaki Ichigo.

"Ichigo."

I, the red-haired strawberry being called on, turned around, confused as to what could be wrong, "Chad? What's up?"

Chad, Orihime, and I had been sharing an apartment for a few months. Actually, Ishida had lived with us for a while, too, but he left after the first week so he could go to college. He lived in a dorm room with some strange boy name Osamu. Keigo had stayed with us for a while after that, but he'd realized the connection Orihime, Chad, and I had with each other and felt much too out of place to stay. Which was good. I'd only let him come so I didn't have to hear his whining about 'not being included' and whatnot. I knew he'd leave.

"Ishida's on the phone," the Mexican held the phone out to me and I took it, "Thanks." We- well, Orihime- had made Ishida promise to update us at least once a week. He talked to me sometimes, maybe to inform me about a Hollow he saw coming in our direction or something. Just a way to stay in contact, he knew I'd be fine without his warning.

Ishida didn't really have his Quincy powers back yet. After that stupid idea of his to go to college out of the state (I was learning meds from Isshin, and Orihime and Chad, were working under Urahara for a while as apprentices) he never had the time to train, so his skills were unpracticed and immature. He probably had the strength to eliminate Hollows, but he didn't have the time, and he would probably have to work at it in any battle he got into. Put simply, it would not be as effortless as before, and he couldn't be bothering with it.

"What, Ishida?" I sounded bland, I felt bland. Sure, things were a little dull with him gone (less arguing), but I wasn't aching in every lith and limb for his return. I still wasn't even entirely sure if we weren't better off having him gone. The only thing he'd taken with him was his pompous attitude and our money.

"Ichigo-san, Orihime wants me to come visit." He stated, sounding equally as stoic as I did. He had switched to 'Orihime' a few days before he'd left. It still sounded strange to my ears.

"Then come visit," I said, ending the 'conversation'. This was the kind of thing he talked to _Orihime _about.

"I can't. I don't have time for that. I'm thinking that maybe you all can come over here." This was just as asinine as his idea to go to college!

I said, "Ishida, that won't work. We don't even go to your college."

I saw him nodding in my minds' eye, "Yes, but my roommate is having a party tonight and you can come to that."

Hm… somehow, his idea was getting _stupider_, "No," I stated simply, "There'll be drinking, and I don't want Orihime around that. She'll get hit on. Besides, Chad doesn't like unorganized parties," I think he noticed how I didn't say anything about hating college parties myself.

"There's no other way!" He protested, getting annoyed, "I can't get out of my studies!"

My own grumpiness was ignited by his, "Why don't _you _come _here _during his stupid drinking party?!"

"_BECAUSE DRIVING OVER THERE IS TAKING TIME FROM MY STUDIES_!" he squawked gallingly. I winced as it echoed in my head for much too long.

"Ugh, fine. I'll see if they want to come. What's the room number and stuff?" I grumbled. He informed me on the time and other specifications and I said, "Fine," then hung up.

Orihime and Chad were in my doorway, expectant, "We're supposed to go to some party tonight."

Chad shifted, "A dorm party? Ichigo, I might not want…"

Awww, how cute. Chad was worried about Orihime. They'd been together for a while. I still didn't know the details on how it'd happened, but when they told me I was so happy I could burst. Orihime wouldn't make me uncomfortable with her crush on me and I wouldn't have to worry about Chad being so much of a loner. You see? It worked out well for all of us!

"He wouldn't let us come if it were like that," I said, stretching to hand him the phone from my seat on the floor. Isshin had insisted on giving me so much homework I couldn't fit it all on my desk. It was more organized to do on the floor where I could lay all of my materials out in front of me. The impedient realization that I would have more homework assigned tomorrow was the only thing keeping me working now, at 11:00 PM. So I had to immure myself in my undersized room all day, living off of the bizarre creations Orihime brought me every once in a while at fixed intervals. She called them 'lunch' and 'dinner' and sometimes even 'breakfast'. Naw, it was food. It was edible, too. And actually, not all that bad. I just wonder why Chad never cooked for me… Maybe he was even worse than her… I don't know. I'd have to ask him to cook us dinner one night.

Actually, living with Chad and Orihime wasn't bad at all. Albeit from having no space and being completely and utterly impecunious, things were great. We had a lot of fun when they were actually home and I had no work to do. Dad didn't trust me enough, you see. He thought I was 'too scatterbrained' to work at the clinic, so he gave me extra work to keep me focused and working hard. He said that that way, I would actually learn something and remember it. I thought it was stupid. I mean, he let Karin and Yuzu work with him when they were, like, eight and ten. Without the immense amount of homework assignments. Yuzu still worked with him sometimes, but Karin had gone off to do her own thing. She was learning martial arts from Tatsuki at the dojo and striving to become a better baseball player. Yuzu like writing and photography. She was artistic, and deep. Much deeper than I thought she'd turn out to be.

Despite all of the work I had to do, I still had time to be a Shinigami. Though this was only because the Hollows were attracted to our apartment like moths to a light owing to all of the reiatsu we had immured and festering inside. This disturbed me, since Rukia had told me years ago that they came after high spirit levels _after _they'd eaten their own families. So, Renji came over yesterday on request and explained to me that my spirit level alone was too distracting to the Hollows so they came to me first. Good news, right? I get to save everyone by endangering myself.

"Well, we should get going…" Chad said slowly, as if I was missing something.

Of course, I had been, "Oh, right! In the car, everyone!" Orihime giggled in my impetuous panic and followed after me, "Bring something with you, Ichigo-kun!" She'd begun to call me 'Ichigo-kun'. I was used to it, but it sounded a little weird. Though not as weird as when Ishida called me 'Ichigo-san'. The only person who still referred to others by their family name was me. I still called Uryû 'Ishida'. I almost think he'd be angry if I changed that.

What was up with the short notice!? The party was_ tonight_! How completely rude! I grabbed an extra pair of pants and another jacket, and a water bottle and threw myself into the driver's seat of Chad's car. Orihime climbed in behind us and Chad loaded himself into the seat beside me.

Yeah, I didn't have a car. Ishida and Chad were the only one's who did. I used to drive Ishida's car… Chad shared his with Orihime. Ah, who cares? Ishida didn't even live here anymore.

"Okay, ready everyone?" I applied torsion to the keys in the ignition and the engine roared to life. I took a drink of water and Orihime seemed to realize something.

"Ooh! I want a drink! Be right back!" she hurried out into the cold and ran into our building again.

Chad made a noise in disapproval, "I would've gone in to get it for her." He still seemed nervous about the whole idea.

"Chad, if you stay with her, she'll be fine. Besides, any guys Ishida's hanging out with are too nerdy to hit on her."

He looked over at me, confused, "Ishida's throwing the party?"

"Not… well, yeah," It was a stupid thing to lie about, but I wanted Chad to calm down. We were supposed to have fun tonight.

When Orihime returned, however, Chad's dread was only heightened. She had changed into a white blouse with quarter length sleeves and a tight black skirt that stretched just past her knee. Under this, a pair of cute, knee length black boots. Clutched in her hand was a water bottle filled with bright red liquid. Probably raspberry juice.

"Okay…," I said uneasily, "We're going." I pressed down on the pedal and eased Chad's small army green jeep out of it's tight position between two much fancier cars. I was pretty bad at parallel parking. Worse at escaping it.

Once we were freed I was speeding down the road, talking very little. Orihime and Chad conversed excessively, but I didn't really feel left out. I was lost in my own thoughts. I hadn't seen Ishida for months. Half a year, maybe. I wonder if it'd be awkward or anything. We'd probably feel like we were supposed to be good at our first reunion. You known, no fighting. I liked it when we quarreled. It helped me feel comfortable for some reason. It crossed out any possible intimacy.

See, if Ishida was a girl… he'd be perfect for me.

Just kidding.

Maybe.

I don't know. Maybe I was kidding, maybe not.

This whole situation was too damn convoluted! The thing was… I don't think Ishida's being a guy bothered me and I'd been interested in something further than friendship more than once. I was too confused with it to make any moves, luckily, but it still scared the shit outta me. I wasn't gay! That was not me! I wasn't! I could be with Rukia! Why wasn't I with Rukia…? Maybe I just didn't see her enough… Okay, this wasn't the time. 

Before I knew it, we were nearly there. I was becoming lazy and tired, since it was night and I'd been awake for too long. If Chad's car hadn't been such a rough ride I would've fallen asleep by now. Ishida's car had always run so smoothly…

Fortunately we reached the place then, and it was easy to find the building he was in. As we made our way across the parking lot, we saw two people outside. One, tall, thin and willowy staggered back as the even taller, more built figure advanced. At first I thought it was a woman in danger of rape. When I looked closer, though, I saw that the wispy being wore familiar clothing and rectangular glasses. It was Ishida. Interesting…

We were close now. Close enough for me to recognize Osamu as the one approaching Ishida. He was not angry… though his flushed face spoke volumes about his blood alcohol level. _He was aroused and wanting Ishida_. (Ah, who could blame him? Ishida was _hawt_. I'd probably be after him too.) I would have laughed, but a shocking turn of events halted me.

Horrified, I watched as Ishida wandered backwards, onto the curb, "Oi, Ishida, careful!" Ishida looked at me, and at this moment Osamu blundered forward in an attempt to wrap himself around Ishida. Ishida was pushed over, landing roughly on his ass further into the street. He made to get up, one leg outstretched, the other bent to help him support himself as he got up. I could only watch what happened next.

It happened so fast I don't know if I would have been able to help even if we had arrived sooner. The heavy truck was definitely speeding. The being in it, be them a bad person or not, wasn't paying attention and instead of screeching and sliding sideways in an attempt to stop, passed over Ishida. His leg, the one laying out before him, was crushed, and the sound I heard, not the bones fracturing, but the horrific, dismal cry of hurt that tore from Ishida's throat tugged on my heart so sharply that I couldn't breath. My knees nearly gave as I started running for him before the event was even over.

Unfortunately, his leg hadn't been the only thing not to clear the car. Pretty much the same time his leg was injured, his upper body and the two tons of metal slammed into each other in an explosive collision. The sound it produced was bone-chilling. Orihime released a blood curdling scream and Chad ran right beside me, faster than we both probably ever had. Osamu, who I now hated in my seething, torrid rage, merely yelled out in surprise and hurried into the building again. He'd better be calling for help.

The driver stopped, and Ishida's fragile body bounded across the ground for a good few more seconds. His frame smacked against the ground at least three times more before he finally came to a halt. I stared at the crimson smeared across the dark pavement and choked. There was so much of it… that stench… I could _taste _it. I swallowed back the persistent urge to retch and slid to a stop beside Ishida. I fell to my knees and rolled him over so he was on his back. The right side of his face was already terribly bruised, but only a little bit swollen. It looked like his face had hit the ground right on, and scraped against it for a some period of time. Too much of the skin on his face had been removed. I looked behind me at the carnage once more. Half of Ishida's face was over there somewhere… smeared onto the pavement. Tears of fear, revulsion, and anger welled in my eyes. This only made me more frustrated and upset and I quickly wiped them away with my sleeve.

He was beaten. Scrapes and cuts decorating his body all over. As I scanned him I came across his leg, which just looked _wrong_. I could be glad that it wasn't twisted into some sort of freakish right angle, but this situation was so dismal… there was no positive side other than the damage being done with. Though his knee seemed to be pressed down _into_ his leg. His leg wasn't bent, but it wasn't straight. It was… the bones inside were _not _intact.

"Ishida?!" I choked. I moved his hair out of his beaten face. I didn't know where his glasses were, "Ishida?! _ISHIDA_!?" Chad remained silent, eyes wide as he surveyed and analyzed the damage himself. Orihime stood behind us, sobbing, which compelled Chad to get up and go to her. Something had impaled Ishida's abdomen. I couldn't figure out what it was, but in his lower left, just below his navel, there was a strange puncture wound. I lifted his shirt just a little higher than the wound and swallowed at the sight of yellow bruises and crimson scrapes. I pulled my spare jacket out from behind me and began applying pressure, desperate to stop the blood from being pumped outside of him, "Ishida!?"

His eyes were open, just barely. His lashes were wet and I realized that tears had rolled down the sides of his face and into his hair. "I-Ichigo? Ichigo-san?" He blinked a few times, never really opening his eyes too much. He winced and tried to move, then settled for looking around and seeing what he could from his position on the ground and his half open eyes. A sob broke out from him and he tried to look down at himself, "Ah… _Ngh_…! What…?" He had begun to panic. He probably didn't really know what happened, "Damn, it… hurts…"

"Shut it, Ishida," I said, distressed, "Don't talk." I looked at him curiously when he didn't reply and found that he'd lost consciousness. That was good. I didn't want him suffering this. It pained me to see him reduced to this. I just knew he would be embarrassed later. Worried, I took a hold of a bruised wrist and searched for a pulse. I found it.

Sirens, in the distance. I looked over my shoulder once, quickly. For a second, I was almost angry at their coming. No doubt they would cart him off somewhere. I knew meds too! I wanted to help him! The idea of them keeping him from me was so unattractive that I briefly opted on shoveling him up in my arms and taking him somewhere myself. But I realized that I didn't trust myself enough to put his life in my hands. I could be possessive, though. I could hold onto him as long as possible. So, stupidly, carefully, _foolishly_ I picked him up, pretending I didn't know the first thing about medical procedures. Ishida was not… I didn't want them to have him! I didn't trust them.

They were here, and I had to decide. I moved him away when they tried to grab him, "Take him to the Kurosaki Clinic," I commanded, "We're going to the Kurosaki Clinic." I continued, placing him deftly on a stretched and following him into the ambulance.

"Sir, that's not the best idea…" One of the less active paramedics warned, "The Kurosaki Clinic is at least forty-five minutes away from here. We can get to the hospital in under four."

Ah. Damn. They were right. Okay, okay. This was about Ishida right now, not me. I looked around once and spotted his glasses, "Oi! Chad! Pick up his glasses and pack up some clothes! Meet you there!" Chad nodded, Orihime sobbed, and I swung the heavy doors to the ambulance shut.

--END CHAPTER ONE--

Please review and look out for chapter two! Whee, a rhyme!


	2. KI: Dissaproval

BY: Amagumo (Rain Cloud)

Ichigo/Uryû Story!

Bleach doesn't belong to me. That's a good thing.

Okay, I just _love _how I gave you literally no information in chapter one. You see, I was running out of time to post it since my faja was all like "OMG, daughter, get off of the computer right nows!" And I was all like, "But _Faja_, if I get off now, I shall feel unaccomplished!" And he was all like, "Nani?! No, get _off_!!" It was something like that. Not really.

Anyways, I think I put this down as mystery. That might've been for my own benefit, since I didn't know any secondary themes other than romance. This is probably romance/action/adventure. 'Kays? Cool. And the pairings… I might've put them down before, I might not have. I forget (of course). Here they are again, just in case: Ichigo/Uryû + Chad/Orihime. I wonder if it's gonna be seme!Ichigo or seme!Uryû... Of course uke!Uryû is a lot easier to write than uke!Ichigo, but we'll see. (Dude, it is so gonna be uke!Uryû…)

There will be medical in this fic for a tiny while, like EKGs (or is it ECG?) and IVs… and I'm telling you, and I'm sure you see later on, I have no idea of how they work, or even what they're for. Well, and EKG maybe… but please, feel free to whine about that in your review. It'd be good for me to learn from this. Eheheh… don't be _too _mean.

Oh… I just realized… I forgot to create a driver for the car that obliterated Ishida… haha… well, pretend he was one of those hit-and-run bastards who were afraid they'd get in trouble if they stick around for any length of time.

Whee!! Here we go-o-o-o!

.Kurosaki Ichigo.

I had been completely convinced that the worst of this stupid ordeal had passed. I was only in the deepest possible state of despair when I found that I was wrong.

Ishida, to his misfortune, woke up as soon as we started the journey to the hospital. The sirens blaring, paramedics bickering, Ishida yelling, crying… I found it horrifying. I had always been pretty bad in the more dire situations back at the clinic. I'd always been rendered useless by the bustle and urgency everywhere. This much, I think you already knew. Even when Chad had come into the clinic, his back ruined from the claws of a vicious Hollow, I had been completely worthless. I had no way to help.

I knew meds. I know I did, but in the most important situations possible, such as this one, I forgot everything I knew. I'd _forgotten _when I needed to know most.

So, I sat, pondering desperately on how I might help. It wasn't too hard for me to find that there was one thing I might be able to do and that was get Ishida to be quiet and let the doctors work. 

"_Don't touch me_!" Ishida barked sharply, shoving them away violently and trying very, _very _hard to escape the straps around his legs. Whenever he sat up, however, he was pushed down slowly by all three men at one time, giving him the motivation to again say, "DON'T TOUCH ME! LET ME GO! I don't know you, leave me alone! I'm fine! I'M FINE! SHUT UP! ICHIGO, _SHUT UP_!"

I hadn't really said much, but apparently he didn't want to hear anything from me. "Ishida, please-," that's all I'd been able to get out before he'd turned on me viciously. I took his wrist and stopped him from thrashing for a second, "We'll get Orihime to finish you up, okay?" I hissed quietly, "Please cooperate for now! You're in a bad way, Ishi-," he cut me off again, of course.

"IN A BAD WAY!? So you're gonna get all sympathetic on me, too, huh, Ichigo!? _HAH_!?" He didn't really wait for me to respond, though I don't even think he could see the furious expression I wore because of all the blood running down his face. He was again shoving at the paramedics as I spoke, "_NO_," I protested indignantly, "I'm _trying_ to make you understand the condition you're in! You're being a fool, Ishida, and you need to shut up, lay down, and get fixed!"

He glared at me, "How do you know how I'm feeling right now!?" He shrieked hoarsely, "I'm _fine_!" He had managed to rip the two straps restricting his legs open, and was able to move a lot more.

"Ishida Uryû!" I roared, grabbing his wrist again. This time, something around it poked me and a devilish plan came upon me. "If you don't hold still," I yanked at the chain and it broke easily, "You're not getting this damn cross back!"

He stopped. He turned. Slowly, glaring, "Give that to me."

"Che. Nope."

"KUROSAKI!" Oh, _now_ he was moving. I'd noticed him switch to my family name. I don't know why, since it hardly mattered.

"LAY DOWN!"

"_GIVE THAT TO ME_!" He twisted, lunged at me, and winced, his wounds finally becoming again evident to him. Twisting his torso had been a bit too much. He grunted and grabbed the mysterious puncture wound on his stomach and shrank back for a second. He looked up at me through his blood and hair, "_Ichigo… _it's mine." He held one hand out expectantly.

I put a hand on his chest and pushed him down before holding the damndable object out to him again, "He-," he was unconscious again. I went to pocket the cross, but the ambulance turned into the hospital at the same moment and I lost my grip on it. Horrified, I reached for it as it soared through the air away from me, "_Damnit_!" He was just going to love me for this. 

I couldn't bend down to get it; it was too crowded. I didn't even know where the stupid thing was, either. We came to a stop and the paramedics hurried me out. I looked behind me, desperately searching for it, "Damn, damn, damn!" This would be great to tell him next time he woke up and was ready to chat.

I did my best to follow Ishida wherever they were taking him, but the hallways were crowded and confusing and for some reason or other people were continuously slamming into me as if I was invisible or something, and we all know that wasn't true. I mean, I was very much visible, my hair being such a glowing beacon for everyone.

"Sir, please, wait here in the front room." So I did. Hell knows I would've just gotten in the way if I tried to stick around any longer.

With Ishida unconscious I was able to remember that he really was in danger. He seemed fine when he was thrashing around and yelling, albeit how he might've looked… his being an annoying fool made him seem like nothing was wrong, you know? I don't know _how _he'd kept straight face with whatever pain he must be experiencing. His head and his leg. Probably his worst areas right now; where he'd actually been in full-on contact with the car. I wonder who the driver was… and how'd Ishida get stabbed? It didn't matter. That part of this was over.

"Ichigo!" I heard this voice and rejoiced.

"Chad!" I stood up and turned to him, "Where's Orihime?" She popped up from behind him, right on cue. She was _still _crying, "Hey… he's gonna be all right, Inoue." I said it like I actually knew.

Chad looked at me, "What've they told you?" I returned his gaze a little sheepishly, "Uh, well… nothing, but we know Ishida won't get killed by a car. He survived Mayuri and all of those Bount, right?" I was looking at Orihime again. I really needed her to calm down, she was making me nervous.

"Ah," he said, turning his attention to the hallways behind me, towards wherever Ishida was.

"Ichigo-kun, I'm sorry I didn't heal him!" Orihime choked, "I-," I nodded, "Hey, yeah, I know, Inoue. Don't worry about that right now." I turned to Chad again. He was still looking behind me, "Hey, Chad, did you bring his clothes and things?" He looked at me briefly and nodded.

"Oh, it's in the car!" Orihime said, suddenly feeling better and turning to the entrance, "Should I go get it?" I shook my head. I wanted to take him to my dad's clinic. Maybe he'd stay calm there. Doubt it.

I nearly screamed when my phone began vibrating against my ass. I sure jumped, which startled both Orihime and Chad. I yanked the offending object out of my pocket and slammed it to the side of my head, "Moshi, moshi?"

"Kurosaki-sama?"

Rage pulsed through my every nerve, into every lith and limb in my body. I tensed and felt the veins in my neck swell with my anger, "Why are you calling me, Fujisawa?" I uttered venomously. Fujisawa Osamu. The idiot who'd just gotten Ishida obliterated by two tons of steel.

"I know, I feel awful, man. But, hey, can't ya tell me how Uryû is?" It pissed me off more that he would dare even think himself familiar enough to use such casual name, "C'mon, how his he?"

"Well he's not so great! Thanks to _you_!" No mercy for you, Fujisawa.

Ishida had talked to Chad (he didn't trust me and didn't want to bother Inoue) more than once about this guy. Chad worried about him. He was under the influence that Fujisawa was a druggy and he was going to get Ishida dead somewhere. I'd never heard anything good, really. So I was very much done with him.

"Don't be like that, man!" He whined, "How was I s'posed to know that car was comin'!?"

I frowned deeply, "_MAYBE IF YOU WEREN'T FUCKING DRUNK!_" Ah, that was it. I had finally cracked. I was taking in the situation for what it was. Fear was added to the many sensations cycling through me and I was numb with hatred, confusion, fear, grief, horror, sympathy, frustration… I hadn't been prepared for this. I had never thought… this was a _human incident_! No evil-crazed-bastard-taichou had laid a single finger on any one of us, but this was one of my worst fears yet! A freakin' car hit one of us! Not a massive, ridiculous _bankai_!

I hung up on the bastard and sat down in one of the waiting room chair, literally about to pull out my hair. I clenched it between white knuckles and grumbled incoherently about this whole, damn, convoluted situation. Chad sat down beside me, and Orihime by him. We were all silent, though Chad whispered a few small susurrations to calm Orihime down as she leaned on him and cried some more. I wanted someone to lean on…

Oh, _God_. Ichigo, Ichigo, Ichigo! Stop being such a girl! Stop bitching and do what you always do! You are the one who is calm and waits, grumpy and in the corner, perhaps pacing back and forth at a fast pace. You did _not _sit down and wish there was someone there to comfort you! No, no!

Of course, these thoughts did nothing but cause me more frustration and one renegade tear spilled over and rolled quickly down the curve of my face. Enraged, I swiped it away in one swift movement and pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes so I could calm down. I felt Chad's brown eyes on me. I better not be worrying him…

"Oi, he'll be fine!" I hissed at myself. This was a car wreck. Quincies are not killed by cars. Ishida was fine in the ambulance, up and complaining and all. He was going to be _fine_. _This_ idiocy was able to calm me down. Which was good because I was about to be stirred up again…

"_Bastard_. You hung up on me!" A hand on my shoulder, a wretched voice emitting from somewhere behind me, and how in the _hell _did that bitch get here so fast?! I turned around and I honestly don't know how I restrained myself from punching his face in with my bloody hands (Ishida's blood), "Go back to the dormitory!" I crowed, "Your drunk friends are probably snitching your shit! Go home!" I turned away from him and sat down again. I was done with him and he was supposed to be done with me. If he wanted to see Ishida he could go wait alone in the corner. Chad stood up beside me and I decided I didn't care what Osamu did so long as he wasn't talking to me. I hated him and I _was _going to punch him on his next approach.

Okay, I did care if Osamu talked to Chad. Besides, Orihime's crying was more noticeable since Chad moved away from her, and it was annoying. I turned a little in my seat and strained my ears to pick up Chad's deep, resonating voice and Osamu's slurred, airy one.

"It's just," Osamu sounded ridiculously false in his concern, "Uryû is a very fragile person. I'm scared that he won't be able to handle something like this."

Oh my _GOD_, Chad, you'd better respond correctly to this or I'll have to intervene!

"You don't know Uryû. Fujisawa-san, we'll take care of this. You go home." Well, he'd said what I wanted, but perhaps in the weakest and least effective way possible.

"What d'ya mean I don't know Uryû? I'm his roommate!" 

Chad made his way back to his chair and I shifted, arms crossed over my chest so I appeared not to be listening, "And we're his friends," Chad said matter-of-factly.

"You can't make me go home, Yasutora-san," Osamu said in the most annoying way possible, "I'll be waiting and you'll see, Uryû _loves _me."

I nearly vomited. I wanted very much to explode and tell him all of the things Ishida had told Chad (you know, about how much he hated Fujisawa), but that wasn't fair because I think Ishida told only Chad for a reason. He probably knew how grumpy I'd get with Fujisawa if I were aware of the boy's true idiocy, and Ishida probably didn't want to piss off the person he had to live with for the next four years of his life.

"It's a bet, ass-face," I grumbled, half to myself. Chad sighed and Orihime plunged into his broad chest again as soon as he was seated. Hey, maybe that was it… maybe the reason I was having so many problems with this incident was because I had no on to comfort but myself. I had nothing to distract me from unhappy thoughts and ideas… and- well, the idea sounds right to me.

Fujisawa would have been a great distraction, but I'd already scared him off, so I needed to come up with something else. There was a fish tank in the room. I stared at it for a while, but one of the fishes was white with blue stripes… come on, how does that _not_ resemble Ishida? I quickly shook my attention away from the tank and tried to think of someone I could talk to. Someone who I could call and inform about Ishida's little accident. Well, there was his father… but I didn't really want to see him and I was pretty sure Ishida didn't, either. Keigo and Mizuiro might show some bit of concern… but that would just be awkward. Tatsuki would probably want to know… oh, Isshin. He'll probably beat my ass if I don't tell him.

So I pulled out my cell phone again and punched in the number.

"Moshi, moshi? Kurosaki Clinic!"

"Yuzu? Why are you there? Isn't Saturday you're day off?" I had really expected Isshin, and the complete contrast in their voices caught me off guard.

"Ichi-nii!? Where've you been!? Oto-san called me in because _you_ weren't around to help him! You could've told him you were leaving! Honestly, how're you going to graduate pulling stunts like that?" 

Yuzu might be older than she used to be, but her voice sounded so shrilly through the phone that it caused the reception to skip and crack. I winced a little, "Sorry! All right, sorry! I forgot, okay!?" I cleared my throat, "Ah, could we take a patient?"

"What're you talking about, Ichigo? Did you lose your temper and hurt someone? Oh!! Are _you _hurt?!"

I sighed, "No, just a friend."

"Oh!? Someone I know!?" She was excited for some reason.

"Yeah. Ishida was in a… he had a little accident." I didn't even know what condition he was in. Maybe he was perfectly fine, I couldn't really elaborate for Yuzu and I didn't want to, really. She'd probably freak out, considering I'd blow the situation way out of proportion.

"Ishida-san?! Oh, no!" _Yeah_, oh no, "Okay, when will you be here!?"

I don't know. "Ah, we'll try to be there some time tomorrow, alright? Tell Dad so he doesn't freak out, okay?"

"Okay! Bye-bye, Ichi-nii!"

I hung up. Okay… no more distractions. I watched Osamu for a little while as he sat next to the aforementioned fish tank and stared into it with a very unconcerned expression on his face. I noticed, however, that his attention seemed to closely follow the white and blue fish that had bothered my own attention not long before.

I still say he wasn't freaking out enough.

Or maybe I was freaking out too much.

No… he hadn't seen Ishida after impact. He didn't know what was going on. He was a roommate, not a friend. He couldn't understand why Orihime needed to cry, why Chad had to be solemn, why I had to be testy.

I turned away from the bastard to watch the hallway again. Things were quiet now. Of course. To help us be tense and nervous. 

As soon as my eyes met the doors, I felt my heart stop beating for a whole moment.

Chad stood up. I stood up after him. Orihime rose sluggishly, clutching the sleeve of Chad's colorful, open neck shirt. Osamu walked over quickly and stood beside us. We all four stared fixedly at the man dressed in white.

"So, about your friend in there…"

--END CHAPTER TWO--

Please review, minna! Arigatou gozaimasu!!

Okay, Ishida isn't dead, nor is he dying. Or paraplegic. Or missing a leg. Or an arm. Or his liver. He's not missing anything but his Quinciness (which will be had later, of course. We can't have Ichigo running his ass off to save Ishida every fucking moment). No, I'm not stirring up that kind of drama, it's ridiculous. I'm clearing that up right now so that the people who just winced at the stopping point up there don't have to worry. I just wanted a stopping point, and that seemed to be the only one coming. Chappie three shall be up after chappie eight of Wandering Aimlessly (which'll be some amount of time). Sankyuu to oyasuminasai!


	3. KI: Visiting

BY: Amagumo (Rain Cloud)

Ichigo/Uryû Story!

Bleach doesn't belong to me. That's a good thing.

Hah. Been a while, ne? Unfortunately for the poor souls enveloped in my Yami no Matsueiness, Bleach is a lot easier to write, since there is a large amount of new Bleach still coming our way. It's hard to stay motivated about something that's (technically) ended. Um, why am I talking about this?

Anyway, I don't even know what this chapter's gonna be about, so… Heheh. Please deal kindly with my rambling and emptiness. This chapter is prone to be cheap. I have several plans, and a storyline, but this chapter falls under NOWHERE. Right now… maybe later when I'm rambling in typing form, I'll think of something. Let's all stop now and pray I do.

There will (still) probably be medical crapola in this fic for a tiny while, like EKGs (or is it ECG?) and IVs… and I'm telling you, and I'm sure you see later on, I (still) have no idea of how they work, or even what they're for. Well, and EKG maybe… but please, feel free to whine about that in your review. It'd be good for me to learn from this. Eheheh… don't be _too _mean.

There are mentionings of these things. I'm going to make sure everyone knows what they are:

**Frienemy: You know, half friend, half enemy.**

**Crossy-Poo: Ishida Uryû's Quincy cross**

**MPD: Multiple Personality Disorder**

Lookie! I figured out how to make ûs!! Now I can spell Ishida's given name correctly!! Uryû!! Uryû!! U-R-Y-Û! - Ha, I can make a big one, too!

Whee!! Here we go-o-o-o!

(-sigh- Let's see what happens, then…)

.Kurosaki Ichigo.

"Yeah?" I stepped forward, prepared to take the news directly and have the other three hang back and listen.

The doctor nodded at me and took a deep breath. I figured he was preparing to tell us that Ishida was dead, and I trembled. "He's going to survive, ah, first of all. Don't worry about….ah… that." I was standing firm again. No problems then, right? Long as he survived… "Go on," I prompted tersely. He was going much too slow for the speed that my mind was flipping through things.

"We're speaking about Ishida Uryû, right?" Osamu said, stepping forward as well. It was more than annoying, but I refrained from even looking at him.

The doctor acknowledged him the same way he had me, and continued, "Ah… yes. But… ah, that wound to his… ah… his… ah… his head."

Orihime whimpered, anticipating something awful. Chad tightened his grip around her tiny shoulders. Shit, this was annoying! What was this doctor's problem? I mean, at first I thought he had been nervous to spit out Ishida's condition, but this guy must have, like, a freakin' speech _disease_!

"And his… his leg. They might cause some… some…"

Spit it out.

"Problems?" Fujisawa interjected, noticeably irate.

"Yes." His voice was slow altogether.

Fujisawa had the nerve to step forward again. He was as determined as I to become Ishida's first and most important contact. _It – pissed – me - off_. Although, everything pissed me off, all the time, I was just in a worse mood at the moment.

Annoyed, I spoke before the black-haired bastard, "What kind of problems?" I said, raising an eyebrow. He wasn't going to loose his freakin' memory or anything, right? As appealing as the idea might be in any other situation…

"Ah, no amnesia…" he said, trying to rule out all of the worst scenarios, "And no shortened life, ah, s-_span_." He spat the last word. I know, I felt it spray on my face. Osamu was rude enough to flinch and shrink back, swiping his sleeve across his face. It was like it had taken some sort of great effort for him to say it.

Chad asked, "What kind of problems, Doctor?"

At this time, Weird Doctor decided he needed to check his clipboard, "He… ah, he might experience some pains for a while. Some bad headaches… nothing too bad. Just watch out for it, because he could easily overstrain himself for the next few months."

Had his head been that injured? I knew his leg was in no good shape, but I thought he'd only gotten a scrape on his temple. I should've paid more attention.

"How long will he have to be here, Doctor?" this line made Osamu's stupid façade disgustingly obvious. But Weird Doctor, being weird, did not sense the falseness in his voice.

"Ah… three weeks?"

I stepped forward and became level with Fujisawa, "We're having him transferred to Karakura's Kurosaki Clinic. Tomorrow." I hoped that I sounded as superior as I had intended.

"Hmn…" Weird Doctor considered, "Not my problem." He said this with no weird, slurred voice, and no 'ahs' and it pissed me off. He really seemed to care about his patients, now didn't he?

"What do you mean? Then who's is it?" I called smarmily after him, halting his (rather torpid) retreat.

"Ah, _yours_?"

I glared, "_AH_," I nearly shrieked this, mocking him, "e_xcuse_ me, I would like to know who it is I need to talk to so I can move my seriously _fucked up_ friend to where he wants to be!" Orihime could probably heal Ishida in a mere hour if we could just get him out of here. I knew he didn't _want _to be at the Clinic, but I also knew where he didn't want to be: inert and in bed. He hated this kind of crap. The one who hated being injured most seemed to be… injured most. Ha.

Yeah, I didn't hate it so much to be injured. Sure, it hurt, but as long as I wasn't running out of time or anything, I liked having an excuse to lay in bed all day and finally be able to relax and shove my responsibilities and needs on Chad or Ishida. Or maybe even Kon if they were basic enough. He couldn't kill anything, and I had to keep that in mind, but he still had his freakish leg muscles that he could put to use.

"The lady at the counter? Or your friend's _doctor_? Maybe it's their business…" It seemed that in his irritation, this guy could talk normal. Or maybe it's because I just taunted him about it. That should be something of a relief I guess…

Che. But he was being a hell of a lot more annoyingthan before.

I twitched, "You're not his doctor?"

"I am not his doctor."

"Tell me how that makes sense!" Osamu expressed his own annoyance.

"Oh, I guess it _doesn't_," he snickered. Dude, it was like talking to a whole other person, "Please go talk to who you need to."

_Fine, MPD-bastard_. I thought.

"Thank you," Chad said. Orihime nodded in agreement. She looked much better, though I hadn't noticed any improvement in her before.

I was twitching all over as he walked away. I stomped over to the receptionist and got things organized. I was to pay them extra to rent an ambulance to take him to Karakura for us. Fine, whatever. I dished up and sat down again, wishing I had asked Not-Ishida's-Doctor when we could see him.

Yay, more anticipating…

It took quite a while and to his own delight, Not-Ishida's-Doctor was the one sent to retrieve us, "This way," he said tersely. What? He didn't like brats?

Somehow, the place seemed quiet, and not very busy. The only sound was our own shuffling footsteps and Orihime's really annoying crying noises. I think it was just the situation we were in. Any other time and maybe she wouldn't be pissing me off so badly.

"I dunno. He might be asleep," Not-Ishida's-Doctor opened the door, stepped aside, then left.

Okay…

Was Ishida already stable and ready to go? I mean, I had really thought he was in worse condition than that. Ah, it must've been the hear of the moment. I guess…?

My heart squeezed one last time as I stepped into the room and led the rest of us in after me. He looked okay to me… I mean, better than before. His glasses were, of course, still missing and he was now sporting one of those wonderful paper things that were only tied by a thin, easily broken string in the back. You know what those made me think? They made me think that the doctor's are under the influence that their patients might need emergency sex. Yeah, can't get it out of your head now, can you? Have fun on your next doctor's appointment…

Anyway, it seemed like they didn't feel like bothering Ishida with hospital _clothes_, or the Quincy really might be on standby for emergency sex. Ridiculous. Kurosaki Ichigo, you need to stop being an obnoxious, cynical, teenage boy for one moment. Can you do it?

To the others' delight, the guy was somehow awake. I was not as enamored as they, for I was fully intent on watching him suffer in his sleep. I did not feel like having any awkward conversations. I also did not feel like irritating Ishida's not-so-deadly wounds.

How might I do that? Well, he was probably going to ask about his little crossy-poo, and that was currently… not here. Still in the ambulance. Seriously. I didn't yet know what to do about that one. Maybe I could sneak into the ambulance in Shinigami-form?

I couldn't see the part of his face that had been skinned against the road because it was positioned away from me. I could see his torn arms, something I'd seen before, and that was it, aside from a scrape right in the middle of his chin that would have been funny in any other situation.

"Uryû-kun!" Orihime sobbed, rushing to him.

I watched Ishida as he looked past her, to Chad, Osamu, and I. I don't know if he was directing this to any certain one of us, but he said, "…I don't feel good."

I would've punched him.

"No shit, you don't!" I said, storming right past Orihime, who had paused to listen to our little patient's proclamation. Then I remembered Ishida's injuries weren't his own fault and turned around, pointing dramatically at Fujisawa, "Him! Fujisawa Osamu! Do you_ love _him!?" Ha, tiny bit of an awkward thing to ask, but I wasn't quite caught up with my thoughts. I tended to speak without thinking when I was angry. Which was all the time…

Ishida, despite the tiredness in his eyes, managed to give me his signature Quincy-Death-Glare. Never was very afraid of those. "I don't think so," he said tersely, "I don't even want to know what he told you… He must be pretty drunk…" He said these words with contempt and disgust. Pretty believable hatred.

I looked over at Fujisawa and he waved meekly, "I lose?"

Chad walked over now too and I nodded to Fujisawa, "No shit." I wanted to add, 'now, go home,' but I didn't. It seemed that when I was stressed out, I cussed like some alcoholic mother.

"You're okay, then," Chad said in confirmation, "How's your head?" Ishida turned his attention to our Mexican giant and smiled, "I don't know… they've got me drugged," He turned to our Mexican giant's girlfriend, "Can you-," he stopped and shifted his attention once more, "Fujisawa-san, go away."

Ha, yeah, you can't do supernatural healing in the presence of a human could you? Well, I suppose you could, but you couldn't do that and still walk around saying you were one smart Shinigami. Not really anyway. Well, I guess I was the only Shinigami here. The three of them were just enhanced humans, Uryû in some clan.

"I don't think so! I come here too see how my boyfriend is and that is what I'm going to leave here having… done!" He apparently confused himself with his own wording. Stupid dookie.

Wait, _what_? Boyfriend?

I turned to Ishida, grinning like a horned devil.

Ishida wasn't even looking at me. He was glaring at Osamu like he was some sort of obnoxious child disobeying house rules, "You know that isn't true and I am not in the mood to deal with your stupid jokes!" He was talking like it, too.

Orihime was deaf to Ishida's denial, "Ooh, Ishida! You have a boyfriend!?" She loved this shounen ai stuff… shouldn't she be more surprised that Ishida was possibly gay? Hm, actually maybe not. I always thought it fairly probable that the nerdy Quincy was gay. Him getting a boyfriend might bemore of a shocker after all. Haha, that's funny stuff.

Ishida reddened, "No! I do not!"

"You're gay." Again, Chad said it as more of a confirmation then a question. I guess he wasn't surprised either. Why were we listening to Fujisawa, anyway? And he was drunk, too, which made his words even less plausible.

"Oh, this is hardly the time!" Ishida roared, reeling on all of us, "Can't you just over-exaggerate about my condition and _leave_!?"

No, Ishida. No we could not. And don't think I didn't notice that you didn't deny being gay, "You're gay, but Fujisawa-san isn't your boyfriend. Right?" Orihime asked, highly enthusiastic.

Ishida grew redder, but I think he was embarrassed now, not angry. Open subject for degradation right in front of his frienemy- me. Haha, he was so vulnerable right now. I was going to have to take advantage of this situation one way or another.

"Ha, you're gay? I guess I should've known, huh? You and you're sewing and all your other nerd habits." My expression was laughing, and Ishida was glaring at his lap. I should not be harassing critically injured patients… that wasn't good etiquette in doctor-world. Hell, I wasn't the doctor right now! And so I was ready to start hurling smarmy comments, but what came out of Orihime's mouth made all of us freeze. Except Chad. Chad was never so surprised.

"But, Ichigo-chan, aren't you gay, too?"

I turned to look at her, careful not to react harshly and suspiciously, "What gave you that idea?!" I half-screamed.

Orihime shrugged, "I dunno! Must be instinct!" She seemed too proud of herself as she said this.

Even though the fact that she might have a very sensitive gay radar was very enamoring to Orihime, I only winced horribly at these words. I turned to her, "When have I ever done something gay!?"

She didn't answer. She couldn't. She was interrupted by Ishida, "CHANGE OF SUBJECT!" His voice cracked a little, either from injury or emotion.

"Stop yelling, you idiot!" I warned him. He shouldn't yell so much being the way he was right now. I guess, to me, it just didn't seem very healthy.

He turned to me, torridly pissed off, "Ichigo-san. Where is my cross?" His eyes leveled dangerously, and his glare told me I was supposed to hand it over then and there. Gee, this wasn't the best of days for me, was it? All I had to do was paste on a bit of a sheepish expression and he got the message.

He groaned petulantly at this, as if he had been expecting it, "What did you do, idiot?"

"Don't blame me, you freak! _You're _the one that wouldn't hold still! I had to do _something_!!"

"YOU CAN'T EVEN HOLD ON TO A STUPID-" he paused and took a deep breath, eyes clenched shut in pain. See, I'd told the moron that he should calm down! No one listens to me.

"So it's in the ambulance?" he said evenly.

"Unless someone stole it," I said, shrugging. Then, I added, "I don't know why anyone would wanna do that. The stupid thing is so-" He cut me off with a tiny, but sharp 'shut up'.

"You're getting that 'stupid thing' back," he informer, "You will search the ambulances one by one, then the entire hospital, then the roads we used to get here."

"Or? Honestly, what do you need it for? You're not a Quincy anymore!"

Fujisawa straightened at the suggestion of something he didn't know about, "Quincy?"

Ishida glowered and we ignored him, "That's not the point! Get it or I'll tell Keigo you're gay!"

"_I'm not gay_!"

"He won't care when I give him proof!"

"How're you gonna do that?!"

He folded his arms arrogantly, "All you need to be concerned about right now is avoiding it altogether."

Chad and Orihime hadn't known about my losing Ishida's cross, and they were just about laughing at me for it now. _Ichigo's in trouble, haha, hahaha_! I scowled and Fujisawa came over with long, ridiculous strides, "Dearest Uryû, are you all right? I was worried you wouldn't be able to handle something so traumatic. Something that hurt you-" I stopped listening there, partly because it was all bullshit and partly because Ishida's expression rendered me brainless with shock.

He seemed appreciative. Shit, he was expecting us to be worried, wasn't he? Well, we had been, really, but he was conscious now already, and those drugs had kept him even healthier for us. We really hadn't expressed much reprieve, only given him grief for his apparent gayness (guess that was just me). Ha, we were the greatest friends!

Yes we were, _damnit_!

"Shut up, Fujisawa," I said, finally abandoning the polite '-san' that I don't even understand my reason for using, "C'mon Ishida, don't you remember hating-" Oh shit, I shouldn't have said anything. I received another Quincy-Death-Glare and sighed. At least he didn't search through any implications my words could've possibly had. Look, I had too much pride to express concern to the guy's face, and I thought he had too much pride to receive it! End of that! Well, not really, but…

It was then, as Ishida actually looked at me that I saw the skin missing from his face. I wonder if he'd seen it yet? His face wasn't very swollen except for a bit of a small inflation at the end of his left eyebrow. Other than his face, all we could see of Ishida were yellow, purple, and brown bruises all over his arms, scrapes all over his arms, and, of course, his crushed leg, which was elevated in one of those ridiculous, obnoxious, full-leg casts.

"What?!" Ishida snarled, noticing that I was staggered by something.

"Geez, your _face_," Ha, what a gracious way for me to put it.

He sighed and pulled a tentative hand up to lay a hand on what he already knew was there. Or rather, what _wasn't _there, "I was kind of hoping that it wasn't so bad that it needed to be commented on."

I saw Fujisawa smile warmly at him, "It is not so noticeable, dearest. Ichigo was only being crass and rude."

Okay, first of all, that freak just called me 'Ichigo.' Second of all, his multiple personality disorder was worse than Not-Ishida's-Doctor. Whatever love he might have for Ishida was purely deceitful, because if he actually cared, he would _not _have spoken in such a way that he did in the waiting foyer. (I was thinking/caring about this why…?) Maybe Fujisawa was only acting like this because he was drunk.

Huh, I'd never met a MPD drunk. Only thought there were violent drunks, flirty drunks, and stupid drunks. Whatever.

"I didn't tell you that you could call me that you freakish, MPD-bastard! And when did Ishida tell you that you could call him Uryû?" Oh, _never_? Just as I thought!

Fujisawa stared at me, mouth agape. Then, as if realizing or remembering something, he snapped his jaw closed again, "The words I spoke in the foyer with you earlier were not me speaking." _Yeah, they were your alter ego's_… "It was my fear," he turned back to his precious Quincy Uryû, "My fear of losing you…"

Oh my God. Corn.

"Oh, shut up already, you drunk!" I said, grabbing the back of his shirt collar and yanking him away from the bed, "He always like this?" Dunno why I needed to know _that_.

"All I know is that he's been… lusting for me," Ishida said, slightly flustered and thoroughly embarrassed. He wasn't facing me anymore, only looking at the wall. Which was good, because his skinned face was freaking me out.

I was to become the greatest doctor in the _world_. Couldn't even look at a guy with a bad scrape. Why wasn't he bleeding, anyway? Super-medicine? Have to invest in it sometime. It'd closed off the bleeding faster that mass quantities of super-Neosporin could. Ha. Super-Neosporin. That's nonexistent.

Damn. We were back on the subject that Ishida had wisely wanted to avoid.

Orihime watched in fascination, not caring if her own friends were the victims of the dramatic shounen ai in front of her. She loved it. Meanie. This sucked. Chad watched in horror. He seemed embarrassed that he was partially responsible for embarrassing Ishida. Even if he hadn't intended to in the first place.

"I am not _lusting _for him. Not that way," Fujisawa said, deeply offended. What other type of "lusting" was there? Whatever kind he thought he was under the influence of, they were all appalling and vulgar.

"This is getting stupid…" I said, running a hand through my orange hair, "I think all we need to do to resolve it is get Fujisawa out of Ishida's dorm. He is obviously a threat to his well being and _life_."

Osamu snorted, "That's ridiculous! There's no one I love more!" The color in Ishida's face deepened every time passionate words were spoken about him. I guess that was a normal reaction, but I thought someone like Ishida would get up and injure him.

"Let's think about this… with you gone, Ishida won't get hit by cars… with you here…" I turned to Ishida, expecting him to say something himself.

He gave me a confused look, "It's hard to do homework…" was his only complaint. Wow, tight-ass-nerd-boy. How convincing. Didn't he agree that he should get a new roommate? Though just because he didn't share a dorm with Ishida probably wasn't enough to keep Fujisawa away.

"Look, Kurosaki," Ah, my family name again. I don't know what that meant. Just when I was starting to get used to 'Ichigo-san', he switched back, "I can take care of myself. I don't need you going to the school board like some stupid mother and complaining that I'm not having the best experience. I'm in college. I'm an adult." Lucky break, by the way. Ryûken would have been notified of this whole ordeal already had Ishida still been a child.

"Yeah, I know that. But you don't like him, so there's no point in keeping him around, so…" I spoke of Fujisawa as though he were not there. He definitely was, because he was now trying to connect his fist with my face. I caught it, of course, and he threw his other one at me in another vain attempt to throw me down.

"You bastard! We're none of your business!" Angry-Fujisawa was back. 

"Okay, we're not fighting about this anymore," I threw his arms away from me and addressed the Quincy, "Ishida, I've arranged to have you moved to the Clinic tomorrow. The Shunshun Rikka can fix you in an hour." I trusted that this would just fly over our stupid regular human's head. He only stared.

Orihime nodded perkily, eyes sparkling as she spoke to her gay Quincy, "Yeah! Ayame and Shunô will get you fixed you up fast, Uryû-kun!" Our titles for each other were changing right and left. No one but me seemed to notice, as if it was only expected after something like this. But wasn't everyone supposed to become closer when their friend was at risk of death? Ishida had gone backwards with my name. Hmph. Prick.

Hah? Did I honestly _care_?

"I don't have time to go to Karakura, Kurosaki!! I need to get back to my dorm to finish my report, and I still haven't start-"

He stopped, not because I interrupted, but because Fujisawa suddenly jumped me from behind. He locked his arms desperately around my neck and head as though it was going to get some sort of message across for him.

Annoyed, I twisted and tried to loose myself or attack him. He was off me in seconds, lifted clear of the ground by Chad, who actually looked annoyed for once, "We are in a hospital," He said, feeling the need to explain himself for his justified frustrations.

I, who had been trying to pull away from someone who wouldn't let me go, was just released from my restriction. Naturally, I stumbled backwards violently; right into Ishida's bed. This wouldn't have been a problem if the bed wasn't so short and I wasn't so tall. I fell flat onto the bed instead of bumping into it. I landed on top of Ishida, causing him to shout so loudly it rung in my ears for a brief moment. I stood up quickly, hoping that he was only surprised. It didn't sound like it.

"Shit. Sorry. I lost my balance-"

The stupid tight-ass punched me in the face. Why was everyone trying to beat me up all of the time?

"God_DAMMIT_! Are you stupider than I thought?!" he screamed. Wait, who was he yelling at? His gaze shifted through all of us. Chad, Orihime, Fujisawa, and me. I do think I was the only one at fault…

"Get _out_!" He said, pointing us to the door. I could see his face again. It was freaking me out. Especially since now it was twisted in pain. Had I just irritated his condition? I don't think it would've been so bad, right? Just some pressing, but sharp ache due to the bruises and cuts… he wasn't internally injured or anything. Well, not from what I knew.

"You didn't tell us everything," I confirmed aloud tetchily. I was going to have to kick Not-Ishida's-Doctor's ass, wasn't I? He didn't give us a full report!

I moved towards Ishida, fully intending to make him my patient. I was supposed to know what was going on! Chad stopped me, which made me realize how freaked out I had made Ishida with the few steps I had taken.

What was there to freak out about, really? Must mean Not-Ishida's-Doctor had withheld information that Ishida didn't want us to know. Stupid pride of his, I guess.

"I'm not leaving, then," I said, seating myself in a chair across the room and crossing my legs, "I'm not leaving until they shove you on a stretcher again in the morning and drive you to the Clinic." Ha, I'm sure he was dying to get back into one of those ambulances. His experience in there had been just _blissful_.

He sighed, "Kurosaki, go home. I'll be better in a few days and out of here in no time. I'm sorry to have given you all trouble," he finished, again shifting his attention to us as a whole. Huh… Not-Ishida's-Doctor said he'd be here for three weeks.

"Uryû-kun? You really want us to leave?" Orihime seemed offended and hurt. She failed to see that we weren't going to leave, because I refused to. Or maybe they could go, but I would stay. I would prefer they stayed, for my own safety and Ishida's. We'd probably end up attacking each other. I don't think it was very lawful to physically assault recovering hospital patients.

Ishida looked at her, "Please."

Chad said, "I would feel better if you let us stay," He expressed plainly.

Fujisawa was on the verge of becoming ridiculous in love again, but I kicked his leg and told him to, "Shut up," in a hostile voice. Apparently he realized what he was going to say was needless and he shut his two lips together tight.

"Everyone, please. I just want to sleep this off and try to get better. It would help if I could avoid confrontations such as these. You've exhausted me… and quite possibly unsettled my condition, if I have one," his eyes narrowed slightly, "Go home."

Orihime sighed, "Oh… I think he's right."

Chad nodded, "I guess it would be better. Ichigo?"

I snorted, "Che. I said I wasn't leaving and I'm not leaving." I sounded believable because I wasn't lying. Ishida was livid, but his better judgment kept him from giving in to the impetuous urge to start hurling deafening, brash insults my way in some fragile attempt to send me off. "You haven't slept. You need sleep as much as I do and you need to finish your homework even more. Go home."

How he knew this, I don't know. I suppose I might've looked a little sleep deprived by now, but the homework part, I think, was meant as an insult.

I wasn't annoyed, "I can easily put both off those off and survive, you know. I don't trust that MPD Doctor of… not yours." Hm, who was Ishida's doctor and why hadn't I talked to him yet? I just thought it was slightly ridiculous at how unorganized this whole thing was.

"Everyone, it is time for you to go. Ishida-san needs his rest if he is going to recover." Eck, grating, female, pink nurse voice. I turned to it and glared, "I would be more comfortable staying," I said, trying to speak her language and worm my way into what I wanted.

"I'm sorry, sir. Should his condition be worse we might allow that, but you have nothing to worry about. Ishida-san will be perfectly fine."

I twitched, "Okay. Could I ask who his doctor is?"

She checked the clipboard that she had clutched to her (rather flat) chest and nodded sharply, "Doctor Okumichi. He should be available, if you're wanting to see him."

Ishida hissed, though he didn't seem to be annoyed at my nosiness. 

"Now please leave so we can go ahead with treatment."

I twitched again and stood up, "I thought you were just going to let him rest."

"After some morphine, sir. Now please leave."

I tried to glance at Ishida one last time as she shoved me out after Chad, Orihime, and Fujisawa, but he was deeply focused on his lap again. He was bent over, breathing slow and deep. Pain, it seemed.

I shook my head at the whole situation and sighed as the door closed behind us. I decided not to listen for any noises Ishida might make now that we had left. I didn't even eavesdrop on the conversation. There was something else on my mind.

So, Ishida was gay, was he?

--END CHAPTER THREE--

Please review, minna! Arigatou gozaimasu!!

I do think there was a lot of OOCness in this chapter. Hope you don't mind. I'll be trying harder on that in the future. Next chapter is Ishida's POV, and he'll be moved to the Kurosaki Clinic to be further annoyed by Ichigo about his gayness! Yay!


	4. IU: Dignity Loss

Ichigo/Uryû Story!

.four.

Bleach doesn't belong to me. That's a good thing.

I am a little worried about doing Uryû's POV. I don't know why. I've never done it before… maybe that's why. I don't know. Whatever, we'll see how it goes. When we get back to Ichigo, his POV should have morphed some, because I've read a lot of the manga now and I reread it just so I could try to find _one _picture where Ichigo's eyebrows weren't furrowed angrily. I found one picture. Wanna know why he wasn't mad? Because he was asleep. That's correct, he is _always _grumpy. ALWAYS. Unless he's OOC. I don't want him to be OOC, so I'm gonna have to change things up a bit, huh? Ichigo's room is in this chapter, but he's supposed to be living with Chad and Orihime in the apartment. See, Isshin keeps his room because... uh, for some reason. Can't I just write a fiction without having to make so many excuses!? Jeezus! Oh, and I don't know what Japanese people eat for breakfast. Lastly, I don't know... is Shunô male or female? Seriously, I have no clue. I used to think Shunô was female, but circumstances have made me question... Oh okay _now _lastly- I didn't reread this chapter before submitting it. There might be _lots _of weird stuff in here.

JAPANESE, YOU GUYS!!

Shoganai Darou What's the use?!

Ta-ta-ta-ta Ow, ow, ow, ow!

Usankusai Expresses suspicion.

Sugoi Amazing

Kami-sama God

Whee!! Here we go-o-o-o!

.Ishida Uryû.

Oh, ouch.

My dignity.

Well at least now I didn't have any dignity _left to destroy_…

Oh, _ouch_!!

My leg hurts… my stomach hurts… my head hurts… God, _everything _hurts!!

Ah, I seem to have lost all rational thought. This is terrible...

I didn't really have time to sleep. I had things I needed to sort out before I saw Kurosaki and the others again. I mean, by the time I woke up Kurosaki could be here, carting me off to Karakura, bastard he is.

Oh, who was I kidding? I was so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open. I felt like I'd been beaten with pillows for hours. Or I got hit by a car. Sleep was more than justified. Except I couldn't ignore this headache I was having. I couldn't ignore my stomach either. Both of them were burning like an open wound soaked in lemon juice, and my eyes watered at every movement. Luckily I didn't move much because of how tired my body was, but every intake of breath made me want to vomit.

Kurosaki did not, at least, seem revolted at the idea of a gay Quincy. Not that being a Quincy had anything to do with it. No, he seemed to think it was funny (not a good sign, actually). Orihime was simply enamored to hear the news, and Chad... well... Chad already knew. Yes, he'd known for a long time. Chad, come to think of it, was my best friend. I'm sure he didn't think of it that way and I hardly did myself, but that's what it is easiest to describe him as.

For some reason, people seemed to think Kurosaki and I were really good friends. I don't know _when _Kurosaki or I had produced such an allusions, but it was really kind of frustrating. I mean, the majority of the school thought I was gay, just because I was skinny and fragile _looking _(LOOKING. I could kill them _all _in a few minutes. Not that I'm really planning to or anything) and happen to have a bit more hair than some. Some, not all. And the other guys with a bit more hair are really tough quasi-yakuza bitches. I do not have such charm, being the top of the class and 'chief' in the sewing club. Which, might I add, accentuated my apparent gayness.

_Apparent_ gayness? I _am_ gay. Agh, but that wasn't for them to know! It was a bit of information supposed to be let alone. A bit of luck amidst all of this: I am nearly always disregarded. People ignore me. A lot. Which is a good thing, I think. The only time I am not ignored is when I'm supposed to be helping people with their schoolwork. Or if they're all teasing me about being gay. It's not as bad as I let on, I guess, but I still wish it could be left alone. When have they ever cared about my _sexual preferences_ before? Or anything else about me, for that matter?

So Kurosaki had reacted much differently than I had expected. He- OH, MY _CROSS_! How could I forget about the Quincy cross?!

And now, a new frustration to be added to the rest. I was definitely not _tired_ anymore. I definitely wanted to sneak out of here and into the ambulances. Unfortunately, it would have to wait until I could maybe _move_. What if it wasn't in the stupid ambulance? What if someone picked it up and kept it? I really don't know what would possess them to do something like that, but it was all-too-possible. 

That cross was given to me by Souken. It was my favorite possession, even if I, myself, had rendered it completely useless. No, not time to think about the loss of Quinciness. That was something I could think about forever and a _day_. I needed to sleep. I couldn't think any longer or I'd come to terrible (wrong) conclusions. All I knew now was that I _needed _and was definitely _going to _beat the crap out of a one Fujisawa Osamu. _All _of this was _his _fault.

"Ready for the morphine, Ishida-san?" someone grabbed my arm and I jerked in their direction.

Ah, what? What just stabbed me...? 

Tired.

---------------

I awoke some time later. I could tell a substantial amount of time had passed because there were two trays of food beside my bed. I wondered briefly why they hadn't removed the first tray upon delivering the second, but it hardly mattered. I knew as soon as I looked at it that I wasn't going to eat it, regardless of my body's need. Food just didn't look good to me right now. I'd probably just throw it up anyway, considering it was causing a tidal wave of nausea to sweep over me just _looking _at it.

This appeared to be another one of those times where I witness the very short-lived wish of being a Shinigami. If I were a Shinigami I could hop out of this body and wait for Orihime to fix it. No pain that way. And then I would have to wait around at a hospital for days. Plus, you can't get hungry in reishi form, could you?

But like I said, the idea was rare and very short-lived. I was all about my Quincy pride, I couldn't go around wishing I could join the _enemy _(were they still my enemy? I couldn't remember... hadn't I solved this?). Ridiculous. Although, I probably should abandon the whole Quincy thing now. Since... well... I wasn't a Quincy anymore. I could hear my grandfather, Souken, sensei, I could hear him telling me how I'm wrong. No, no, no, Uryû, you'll always be a Quincy. A Quincy is not just someone with the power, a Quincy is... blah, blah, blah. Sure, it's still in my blood and whatever, but I had nothing to show for it anymore. Except my cross. Which was gone.

Still, I think about ditching all of my Quincy habits, but I can't. I draw the cross on my papers, I sew it on my clothes, I think about it every day, I talk about it to Kurosaki and the others. I even continue to swear on my pride _as _a Quincy even though I'm really just not one anymore. It's ridiculous. Stupid Kurotsuchi. He had even survived. He had _won_. The whole situation was just pathetic. It was terrible. _Unbearable_. But I couldn't do anything about it, and I certainly couldn't blame it on Mayuri. At least Ryûken hadn't figured it out, yet. He hadn't spoken to me since I started college, and he didn't even say anything about my diminished reiatsu. I'm sure he knew. Regardless of his decision to make money, he was still a very capable Quincy and there was no way he didn't notice my loss of power.

Actually, his failure to comment on it was very intriguing. Usually he'd be very eager to let me know how disappointed he was and how stupid I was. Even if I already _knew_. And, oh, _yes_, I already knew.

Well, right back to the current issue, it seemed Kurosaki was going to be the only problem (as usual). At least he wasn't a homophobe...

Wait, what was it that Orihime said?

_But, Ichigo-chan, aren't you gay, too_?

Oh the hilarity. I laughed aloud upon recollection (kinda... hurt) and sighed contentedly. I remember perfectly that Kurosaki hadn't flat out refused. This meaning he was probably trying to strategically make it seem untrue. Whatever Kurosaki. You can't be clever, so don't try. Kurosaki, gay. How interesting.

Anyway, I remembered perfectly because it was somewhat important to me, really. First of all, if he was gay or bi or whatever, than he wasn't allowed to make fun of me. This was vital to my survival. Seriously. Also, Kurosaki wasn't an ugly guy. Though I couldn't help but think that if he _was_ interested in guys he would have made some sort of move towards me already if he was even considering me. All hope wasn't lost, however. There was still the possibility that he was to shy or scared to make an advancement because of my reaction his unsureness of my sexual orientation.

Agh, I'm thinking all of this as if I _want _to be his boyfriend.

It hardly mattered. Soon, all of this would be sorted out.

And then that hope was crushed under Kurosaki's stylishly clad foot (I liked his boots, okay? Wish I could afford things) as he stepped into the room. I had somehow forgotten who I was dealing with. Kurosaki was much too much of a pain to allow it all to be sorted out _soon_.

"Ishida!" He held his hand up in that way of greeting and strolled over happily, "You feel better?" He smirked at me a little, then froze. I guess he'd realized who he was talking to and that I wasn't about to dance with him in whatever happyland he had just entered. No matter, he was back to normal now. Angry eyes, quasi-permanent scowl.

Anyway, what if I had still been asleep, huh? He would have definitely woken me up. This guy... so inconsiderate! If I liked him more I might have remembered that he had saved the world/universe/country/whatever more than once now, and was very compassionate. But... I _didn't_ like him more.

I glared at him for a substantial amount of time before asking, "Where are Inoue and Sado?"

Kurosaki placed his hands on his hips, seemingly unappreciative of my obvious disapproval of being left with just him. _Again._ "They've already started home."

I sniffed and looked at him, hopefully intimidating him with my rather screwed up face like I had last night, "Oh, so you're going to get them out of the picture so you can tease the queer all the way back to Karakura, _huh_?!"

He rose an eyebrow (not before swallowing visibly and pathetically at the sight of me) and frowned, somehow, deeper, "I had forgotten about that," I was pretty sure he was lying, there, "but it sounds like fun."

I groaned inwardly and sat fuming in my little hospital bed as a nurse came in with a stretcher. This incensed me for some reason or other, and I couldn't help but explode again, "Can't I just get out of bed?! I'm not a cripple!! I can _walk­_-"

And then Kurosaki interrupted, "No, you can't."

Sugoi, I couldn't even manage one of the easiest human functions anymore. 

"I'm sorry, Ishida-san," the nurse said, wheeling the offensive thing beside my bed, "But even to try to let you walk at this time would be very foolish due to head trauma-"

I interrupted, "I do not have _head trauma_!" Even so, I had to say it extra loud, you see, to hear it over my splitting, distracting headache that had come back to haunt me. I did not have head trauma.

"Well, but this says-" she pulled her clipboard up and looked at it quizzically as Kurosaki sighed, irritated, and interrupted again, "Che. He's not going to listen."

She shrugged and smiled helplessly then moved to my bedside, "Okay, Ishida-san, we're going to move you to the stretcher now. I know your tired," I am not _tired_, "And your muscles ache," My muscles do not _ache_, "But we need you to try to keep yourself supported when we move you."

I made no response.

"Um... sir?" she turned to Kurosaki, who rose an eyebrow in half-interest, "Could you help me...?"

Kurosaki shrugged and moved to my bedside beside her, "We gonna move him?"

Oh... no. Oh, Kurosaki's hands would be on me. Agh, I could feel frustration bubbling up inside me, but I closed my eyes and stopped listening to what was going on. Then hands were on me and I was being moved. It _hurt_, but I was careful to remain still. I was already embarrassed enough. I think there was still some sort of anomaly even though I'd already gone through an operation. But... that didn't make _sense_.

And then I opened my eyes to see Kurosaki's gazing back down at me, "Did that hurt?" He definitely appeared more curious than concerned. Aww, how _nice_.

"Shut up, Kurosaki," I spat, looking away.

He sniffed and looked in the opposite direction.

And then we were driving, driving. Kurosaki searching for my cross on the floor of the ambulance. At least, I think that's what he was doing. Neither of us spoke, but our eyes met plenty of times. It actually seemed kind of... awkward. I felt like saying something mean to him, but there wasn't much to say, and he seemed to be in the same situation. At least he could busy himself and search. All I could do was watch him.

He really wasn't... bad looking.

Ohhh, Ishida Uryû, that thought _never_ existed.

Oh, kami-sama, _shoganai darou_!? Kurosaki is hot. I like his attitude, and I think he can be terribly sweet sometimes. He might be stubborn, but how could he have saved us so many times if he wasn't? Plus, he was passionate and sensitive and kind to everyone.

Except me. Everyone, _except me_.

I mean, I guess I wasn't helping myself by yelling at him and bickering with him all of the time, but I still wish things could be a little different sometimes.

And then my surroundings came rushing back to me and my eyes squeezed shut. It was my stomach again. _God, _it felt like someone was twisting knives into me! Furtively, as not to catch Kurosaki's attention, I clenched my teeth, shifted a little and blinked at the impending tears.

On his knees to my left, I heard Kurosaki sigh. He sat up and glanced at me briefly and didn't notice anything, "I think it's safe to say that your cross isn't on this ambulance. Look, can't you just forget it? You don't need it anymore. I mean, Ishida-," and then he looked at me again, this time my condition catching his attention, "Hey… hey, Ishida!"

What?! _What _was I supposed to do!? Agh, now he was yelling. He probably thought that whatever was going on with me was terminal. That was impossible, but I couldn't find it in myself to tell him I was fine. For one thing, I wasn't. This stabbing pain felt like some sort of severe hunger. Like my stomach acids had no food to chew so it was eating my stomach. Huh, maybe that's what it was. Strangely, strong waves of nausea were accompanying the 'hunger', and I really couldn't help but gag.

"Kuro-rosaki." I said as sharply as I could, "I…" I'm hungry? That's what I was going to say, but, thinking about it, I realized how stupid it sounded. He probably wouldn't even believe me. Besides, it didn't really make much sense. Wait, he was studying medicine too, maybe he wouldknow what was wrong if I explained it to him. Alright, I guess I could give it a shot.

"Hey, _Ishida_, what's up!?" 

I glared at him and he calmed down a little, "I think I need to eat something..." I mumbled.

He just looked down me and nodded, looking freaked out. It was kinda cute, but I wasn't in the condition to appreciate Kurosaki at the moment. "What? When was the last time you ate? Didn't they bring you food?"

I closed my eyes and nodded, "I didn't- eat it…" how could I be so hungry now if I wasn't hungry then? And I felt a lot better not too long ago...

"Tch, well, _duh,_ you're hungry, you idiot! Why didn't you just eat the damn food?!" He sighed, "I don't have any food for you, Ishida. You'll just have to wait."

"F-fin_ngh_," I really hadn't mean make a sound like that, but it had a nice effect. I would've smiled if I was in a better mood mood. I watched as he turned to me sharply and rose an eyebrow, "Ishida, _when was the last time you ate_?"

I looked away. Maybe I _wasn't _hungry. It could easily be something else. But then the answer to Kurosaki's question came to me and I near panicked, "I think… three days ago." No, that _couldn't _be right. I would have been hungry! I guess I _had _been pretty busy with schoolwork, and I had the art club with Orihime… and then there was all that time I had spent at the waterfall trying to become a Quincy again… I _was _pretty stressed out...

Oh, God. I haven't eaten in three days. 

"WELL, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU EXPECTING, YOU IDIOT!? _Jeez_!" He was so mad. I smiled inwardly as he crossed his arms and sat on the ambulance floor. It was… adorable.

"I think you have gastritis," he snapped, glancing at me, "You know what that is, right?" He sighed again, "God, Ishida, I don't know what to say to you. Haven't your parents been feeding you?"

Surely by now he knew I lived _alone_?

"Oh, right... you, uh..." Okay, good, he knew. I couldn't imagine him being _that _oblivious, "Well, jeez, can't you take care of yourself?"

Yes, I could. It was just that I was completely penniless. Most people with no job were. So I had bread, instant ramen, rice, sometimes fruit. Most of my money went to school aids or sewing supplies. They were more important to me than food. But, still, I couldn't understand how I had neglected _eating_. Maybe I had just started skipping meals randomly... could gastritis occur from _accumulation _of skipped meals? Sounded fishy to me...

And then another wave of arrows was plunged deep into my stomach. I clutched the sheet that was laid over me and tried hard not to vomit. (What was in there that I had to throw up anyway, really?) I breathed shallowly to keep the nausea at bay, and tried to relax all of my muscles. Unfortunately, it was hard to resist doing a lot of writhing. I glanced at Kurosaki and managed to lock eyes with him. Unfortunately whatever look I had on my face just then probably came across as some sort of pleading. I don't know what I expected him to do for me, and I felt kind of bad for pressuring him, but it _hurt_.

He got to his feet, "Should I get the paramedic back here? Hey, Ishida, open your eyes!" Agh, _fine,_ but the light's only giving me a worse headache. As soon as my eyes were open tears were coming to me again, and now Kurosaki was looking down at me, frustrated, "Hey! Okay, uh, water? I have water..." he seemed to be talking to himself, and I watched meekly as he darted over to the entrance of the ambulance where his water bottle had rolled.

Then the doors opened. For a moment I panicked and thought Kurosaki was going to fall into the street and end up getting him by a car himself (I'd even shouted, actually), but then I spotted the paramedic, who announced dully that we had arrived at the Kurosaki Clinic.

And then I almost screamed. Kurosaki came barreling towards me like a tiger after prey and shoveled me up in his arms all in a second. I did cry out then, partially from anger, partially from pain, and partially from surprise, "Fuh- _Kurosaki Ichigo_! Those stretchers aren't for nothing, you-!" _Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta_!!

"Please put me down..."

He didn't even _hear _me, "'Tou-san!! Oi, 'tou-san!"

"Ichigooo!! You're here!" There was some sort of impact and then we were on the ground, Kurosaki Isshin standing tall above us, "That's for ditching work hours yesterday!!" now he was mildly confused, "Heh, who's your friend there? Looks familiar..." I... I think Kurosaki actually attacked his son...

I twitched and struggled off of Kurosaki. I stood up and leaned on the wall. Mr muscles were tired, and they did ache. Plus, one of my legs was in an inhumanly large cast-thing, "Ishida... Ishida Uryû."

This is where I am going to admit lying to you earlier. That bit, way up there, about losing all of my dignity? That was wrong, I _do _have more dignity to destroy. _Lots _more dignity.

Kurosaki shot to his feet, glared at his father, and helped me up a staircase, "Orihime and Chad are probably still here. Just... Orihime can heal you as soon as we're in there..."

That's right! This would all be better in no time!

And we reached the top of the stairs, Isshin still yammering at us from the first floor, "Shut _up_!" Kurosaki yelled, slamming his bedroom door on his ramblings.

"Uryû?" Sado stood up from his place on the bed and Orihime turned around. I really liked seeing Sado. I really trusted him.

"Uryû-kun! How do you feel?!" Orihime, too. She was always so happy to see me. I never really understood how someone could be so happy simply at the arrival of someone else, but I was confident she wasn't faking anything.

Kurosaki motioned for them to move away from the bed and I sat down, "I'm _fine_," I said, waving them away exasperatedly. Orihime had already noticed that I wasn't really feeling well, and she hurried over, "Let's just... lay down, Uryû-kun!"

I did so happily and folded my hands on top of my stomach, watching the three of them from the corner of my eyes. Orihime summoned the Shunshun Rikka. I saw Tsubaki regarding us grumpily in the background as the others watched Shunô inspect me.

"Oh..." Shunô frowned and I was feeling the horror creep up along my spine. No way, was I going to have to heal normally!?

"This isn't going to work very well... Ayame and I can fix up cuts and scrapes and the leg... We don't heal, really, we take the body back in time, remember? You have two afflictions, both that happened at much different times."

What was Shunô _talking about_? I had more than _two_ 'afflictions'! 

"Ishida-san, you've been accumulating this illness for a while. We can only what happened in the car incident, really."

_Nooo._ I was more bothered by the possibly-gastritis! Fix the possibly-gastritis!!

Now, Kurosaki and Orihime were trying to persuade Shunô to stop kidding, and just fix me up perfect, but Shunô wouldn't have it. Well, more accurately, Kurosaki and Orihime were just disappointed and making sure there wasn't a way for them to fic everything. Finally, Kurosaki ended it by pointing at me and screaming, "Fine! Just do it!" 

Shunô and Ayame flitted over and soon the warm feeling swept over me, as well as the shield-like, golden barrier. "Arigatou gozaimasu, Orihime."

She looked down at me and smiled sadly, "This is nothing, Uryû-kun!"

Yes, yes I was pathetic. Pity me!

I hate this...

Orihime got down on her knees and set to work, and Chad and Kurosaki began talking. I wish I could hear them, but I was so tired, and the pain was dulled a ton by this 'going back in time/healing' process. I think I was going to be able to sleep.

"Hang on, Ishida, don't sleep yet." Oh, I'm gonna _kill _whoever just said that. I opened one eyes to see, of course, Kurosaki bending over me, "Drink this," he shoved it in my face and I took it, "It's just warm water. _Drink it_."

Whatever.

I drank it, then nearly dropped the cup in exhaustion (Kurosaki grabbed it quickly before this could happen). That done, I turned over on my side so I was facing away from the others and snuggled into the covers (even if they were _Kurosaki's_) and slept.

---------------

I woke up and Orihime was gone.

"Oi. You finally awake?"

I twitched and turned to see Kurosaki at his desk, holding a copy of _Shounen Jump_, "Alright, hang on, I'll get more water," he was back in moments with two glasses of warm water, "Okay. Here."

I sat up, wincing from the stiffness, and took a glass, "Where did Orihime and Sado go?" I was getting really sick of being left alone with Kurosaki. I don't know why they didn't just stick around with him or at least have someone switch places.

"They left after my dad took your cast off... Jeez, why do you keep asking about them?"

"Because I don't wanna be left alone with you!" I yelled hoarsely. He rose an eyebrow at me and I distracted myself with my water (which was helping with pain, but not nausea) and sighed.

"Nice..." he said, sitting down and returning back to his magazine.

I looked at my freed leg and felt one little perk among all the negativity. I experimented with mobility, and it was still kind of sore so I went slow, "You read that crap?" I snickered arrogantly, glancing sidelong at him once.

He turned his chair towards me and crossed his arms, "I think it's Kon's or something..." Where _was _Kon?, "And who cares if I do read it, anyway? I'm still not as geeky as _you_." See? He started it! _He's_ a jerk to _me._

"Remind me," I growled, "What makes me so geeky?"

"Che. Well, for one you _sew_. For another your at the top of the class. And newly added to the growing list: you're gay."

"Being judgmental, are we? I knew you were stupid, but I didn't know you were _narrow-minded_, too."

"I am not narrow minded!" He said, leaning forward abruptly.

"Tell me, Kurosaki, what do you think it means to be gay?" This oughta be _bad_.

"It means you like sewing, you're a helpless _romantic, _and you're a Mary Sue!"

_Oh_, I have never wanted my Quincy power back more than now. I wish I could just hirenkyaku behind him real quick and _slit_ his_ throat_.

"STUPID!" I screamed, "No!" I was a little stung by this, I guess.

"What!?" He squawked, equally annoyed for some reason, "Then _what_?"

I glared at him, "Kami-sama, tell me you're not _that _stupid? Kurosaki... you didn't even say _anything_ about- about _liking guys_ up there!" This conversation should not exist. This conversation _should not exist_.

"Well, okay, yeah, there's that too, I guess," he said, backing down and thinking a little.

"And how am I a _helpless romantic_? _**Mary Sue**_?" I wanted to get up, but I was too afraid that I'd fall over. That wouldn't really help me in this argument, I don't think. Besides, the gastritis wasn't backing down.

"Tch, what're you talking about? You're always in these situations where you need help," He said, giving me a look that said, _Don't you know all this stuff? Haven't you _noticed

"What're you _talking about_?! Sounds like your brain's not working for you again..." 

"Che. Well _first of all_, you almost got dragged off on our way into the Soul Society. _Then _you almost fell away from the group and Chad had to sacrifice himself for you after already risking himself. Oh, and then there's the whole _Bount incident_."

I couldn't help it. I shot to my feet, fists clenched. I wavered once, but my glare was effective enough to keep Kurosaki from coming over to me, "Ridiculous! I don't ever recall crying or asking for help in any of those incidents! Besides, I told you guys to _leave me_ more than once! And I'm not romantic!"

Urk... my mouth tastes like spicy curry buns... Think I'm gonna...

"Oh, really? Well, I-"

I sat down and sighed, "I think the reason you annoy me so much is because you only act like this towards me," this being totally out-of-character for me, I added, "Well, that, plus you're _stupid_."

"I'm like this to my dad, too. Basically just to _jerks_ and _idiots_, I guess. And I'm not stupid, you jerk."

I didn't reply, I was already tired again, "Can you hand that to me?" I said, gesturing to the other glass of water he'd brought up. Done with that crap. He was too dense to catch my message, anyway.

He was surprised, of course, but he brought it over, "Here."

"When can I eat something?" I drank the water and my stomach started to calm.

Kurosaki sat down and threw the _Shounen Jump _in the wastebasket right beside his desk, "Aren't you supposed to be a med student? Shouldn't you know this stuff? Well, it wasn't caused by not eating, really. More by stress. Not eating didn't help though, of course. But it can't take much to make you sick. I mean, you're anemic, right?"

"_No_," Jeez, was I that sickly looking? "When do I get to eat?" I snapped.

"Tomorrow, probably. Only vegetables and bread. Then meat. Wait, I _think_..." he was quite the doctor-in-training, I guess.

"Sounds right," I mumbled, draining the last of the water.

"Che. Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?"

"Just shut up, Kurosaki. I don't feel good," I fell over on my side in a pathetic state of despair, "Hey," I said, rolling over to face him, "I think I'm gonna go home, actually. All I have to do is eat right."

Kurosaki turned and looked at me again, "Hell, no. Just go to sleep."

I glared, "Then can't I at least use your guest room? I hate being in here," I looked around a little as if the decorations (or lack thereof) were the problem.

"No, this is the only room with an attached bedroom besides my dad's (but you _really _don't wanna go in there), so you don't have to go far to get rid of your _detriment _or whatever. And anyway we have to have someone keep an eye on you, just in case you happen to- Ugh, just _no_, Ishida. Go to sleep," He was getting angry again, so I shut up. I'd just sneak out once he left, then. Tch, It should work since I had no reiatsu left to try and hide.

"_Usankusai_..." I said, eyeing him, "You're going to sleep in here?!"

I don't know why, but he didn't seem to understand what the problem was, "Yeah... it's _my room_."

"There's only one bed, Kurosaki, and I am not sharing it with you," I said coldly.

"Oh, too bad for me. I don't _want _to share it with you, gay-boy. No, I'm sleeping on the floor, _idiot_," he said, standing up and dragging some bedclothes out of his closet and laying them out.

"What did you say!?" Jeez, I couldn't go a single minute without getting angry with him!

"What? You _are gay_, gay-boy," he said, sitting down on his makeshift bed. I couldn't see his face, but I'm pretty sure he was smirking.

"Don't worry, I don't want to share a bed with you either! So- Just- _Just_ _shut up, you moron_."

He stood and walked over to the light switch, glaring at me all the way. Then he switched the lights off and I heard him lie down, "Ishida," he said through the silence the darkness had created, "If you need something you have to tell me, got it? Just think, the more you _cooperate, _the sooner you get out of here."

I didn't say anything, but I think he could feel me glaring at him. 

"Ugh. Look, _sorry _about the gay comment. Just try and get some sleep," he said, frustrated with how stubborn I always was in these situations.

Silent still, I rolled over and searched for a comfortable position. Of course, it wasn't happening. In no time at all Kurosaki was snoring softly in his own sleep, which was adorable, really. I wished I could see his face, but it was too dark. He must have been really tired to fall asleep so quickly. I peered over my shoulder quickly to look at the time- 2:56 AM. Hmm, lemme guess, he was waiting on me to wake up. To give me the water. Now my level of annoyance was skyrocketing. Why couldn't Kurosaki just let me take care of myself? This gastritis really wasn't that big of a deal...

--------

And then I woke up, eyes squeezed shut in pain. Hammers pounded at the sides of my skull, and tiny razors scraped the inside of my stomach. I checked Kurosaki's alarm clock, which glowed a bright blue through the dark- 4:07 AM. Then I looked at Kurosaki, who was still on the floor under a heavy, white comforter and snoring.

My clothes had become irksome. I was still in the hospital gown, but now it stuck to me with sweat for an adhesive. My stomach flipped and I gagged. Urgently, I peeked over the side of the bed to find that there was no basin for emergencies such as this one. Well, the floor was wooden, so it should be easy to clean up afterwards... I mean, I knew I could make it to the bathroom. But I didn't want to throw up, so I rolled away from the edge and set to controlling my breathing. I swallowed, a tidal wave of nausea swept over me, and I moaned.

Which woke up Kurosaki.

At first, all he did was sit up and look around, but the pain in my stomach had me constantly moving and trying to make it go away. I couldn't help it. It was involuntary. I caught Kurosaki's attention and he got up quietly, moving over to the light switch and flipping it on. Luckily I had squeezed my eyes closed in the anticipation of the light and there was nothing to add to the headache. Slowly, I opened my eyes and adjusted to the painful light.

"Ishida?" he looked over at me from the light switch, frowning. Slowly, he made his way over and I grudgingly pulled the covers up to my chin, hoping to hide my sudden condition. Kurosaki had already lost a lot of sleep for me, I didn't need to trouble him further.

He looked down at me and sighed, "Jeez, how long have you been awake? I'll go get some water... hey, Ishida?" His brow furrowed even deeper, " Are you okay?"

_Keep yourself deadpan. Don't let your eyes water. Keep your eyes open and angry. This is what he expects from you. Anything else and he'll deem you 'not okay' and freak out. Breathe in, breathe ou-_

_CRAP!_

Taking deep breaths triggered the nausea to skyrocket and I squinted up at Kurosaki's blurry, orange head. I threw the covers off and sat up, which cause Kurosaki to cry out in surprise of my drenched clothing and shaking body.

"I'm gonna-" I lunged forward and clutched the side of the bed and retched onto the floor.

"_SHIT_, Ishida!" he said, jumping back and away from me. I coughed and spat then wiped my face jadedly with the back of my hand.

"You should keep a basin here..." I croaked. I gazed down at my creation and my stomach flipped again. My throat was burning since it'd been the passageway for the acidic bile, and the taste left in my mouth was making it hard not to repeat what had just happened and vomit again.

Despite my efforts, I did vomit again, but this time Kurosaki stepped over and held my hair out of my face. This could have been a sweet gesture had I not been so sickened by the goings on.

"Think you're done?" Kurosaki said finally, backing up and crossing his arms, "I told you to wake me up if you needed something."

And, technically, that's exactly what I'd done...

He moved to the bathroom, "We have toothbrushes you can use. A shower, too, but I think you're probably pretty tired..."

Could I manage a shower? Could I even walk to the bathroom? Wait, yes, _of course I could_!

So, without saying anything, I stood up and wobbled after him to the bathroom, careful to avoid the toxic waste on the ground, "S-sorry..." I was definitely embarrassed again by this new development. I was weak, pallid, shaky, and now I was vomiting all over his room. How pathetic, I was like a newborn baby.

He looked over his shoulder, surprised to see me up, then shrugged, "I expected it. I knew you wouldn't say anything... if you don't want to have to apologize for throwing up on my floor, than wake me up next time and maybe I can get you some water to help your stomach," He said exasperatedly. He threw the bathroom door open and showed me in, pulling a basic, green toothbrush out of a medicine cabinet. But I saw something... before he closed it again. Two things, really: condoms and lube.

I stifled a out-of-place laugh and felt my face blush, which would easily pass as fever or something, and took the toothbrush from him and unwrapped it. There was toothpaste beside the sink so I instantly set to work.

Kurosaki walked out and said, "I'll be back in a second..."

One I was done I went back to the bed (I'd dubbed myself too tired to shower) and pinched the front of my hospital shirt between my thumb and forefingers and pulled it out and away from my body. It was disgusting and I was really hot, so the whole thing was just inconvenient. I was about to get up and dab myself dry with a towel, but Kurosaki strolled back in at this point.

"I got those out for you, you know. Put 'em on. Oh, and here," seemingly disinterested, he held out a baggie of carrot wedges and a glass of water, which I took quickly. Then I turned to look at the clothing he had pointed out and clearly recognized them as his own.

"Oh... guess you want privacy?" then he left the room again. Well, okay... better just put them on. His idea, not mine.

Luckily, he wasn't audacious enough to include his own underclothes, just a pair of pants and a T-shirt with black sleeves (it was the "Speaking is NOT Communication one"), as usual. Kinda like he always wore. It was definitely weird. First of all, the clothes were at least two sizes to big, and the pants barely held on to my hips. I didn't normally wear such baggy clothing, but I found it was kind of comfortable to lay around in.

There was a quiet knock and Kurosaki came back in. Not even looking at me, he came over and dropped to his knees. Then, he began cleaning up my mess.

"Hey... I'll do that, you moron," and I made to get off the bed but he glared up at me.

"Shut up and just go to sleep. Seriously, I mean, you can't tell me you feel fine anymore so just accept some assistance for once and _go_ to _sleep_," and he continued to mop up my vomit.

This is when I smiled at the top of his head. I was finally going to except help. See? All I needed was a little extra push, or five, and then I could be persuaded to do anything. Well, okay, _that_ was entirely false. But I was happy, I'd never really gotten help from anyone before, but letting someone else work and let me just relax and not worry about anything... sounded pretty great. "Alright..." I said quietly, swinging my legs back on top of the bed. I finished the carrots he had brought to me (my stomach protested weakly, then took the food as happily as I had) and then drank the water. I felt _so much better_. I was cleaner, my stomach felt better both from upchucking and from eating something, and now I was allowing myself to be helped. By Kurosaki, no less. I could trust Kurosaki.

I leaned back on the pillow and saw that he was looking up at me, "Just like that?" he said, "You're gonna chill out and let me do this?" At first I thought he was angry that I didn't try harder to help, but then I realized he was just surprised.

I looked back at him and nodded, "Yeah...? I mean, you're right, I don't really feel... spectacular." 

"Okay then!" He said, working quickly and getting up to dispose of his tools. When he came back he sprayed Lysol around the room a little, looked at me, and sprayed me, expression blank.

"What the hell?!" I coughed and closed my watering eyes, "Kurosaki!"

He smirked and walked away.

Hmmm... well, I could take _that_ several different ways.

- He didn't want gay to infect his room.

- I smelled bad.

- He thought my reactions were hilarious.

- His ridiculous way of flirting.

- He's just plain stupid.

They all seemed to fit... well, except for the second one, of course. And if the fourth one was true than the first one certainly couldn't be right. Whatever, I definitely knew what I _wanted _it to mean.

He came back, turned out the lights (this time we actually told each other 'good night'), and the rest of the night/morning went peacefully.

--------

"Ichigooo! Time to wake uuuuuuuuuuup-UHN!"

I sat straight up and instantly set my gaze on Kurosaki, whose fist was poking out of the comforter and resting on Kurosaki Isshin's now bleeding face, "Neber gonna get ya, ab I?" the elder Kurosaki said, pinching his nose and grinning like a fool, "Today's a big day! Today Uryû-kun gets to _eat_!"

Kami-sama, I really was like a newborn, wasn't I?

"I already fed him," Kurosaki stated blandly, sitting up and rubbing his eyes briefly before standing, "And he did fine. _You _were _wrong_. We should have fed him earlier."

"I am sitting _right here_. I am not an _infant_. Or a pet, for that matter!" I snapped, getting up as well.

Isshin was confused, "No... you're a patient," he blinked, released his nose, and shook his face before looking back at his son, "All right, all right! So, _Ichigo_! Tell me, what should he be eating now?"

I stepped closer, "Hey!" Che. A _patient_. Same thing as a pet in this house, I suppose? 

They ignored me, which I must say I rather expected.

Kurosaki paused to think, "Well, I gave him carrots last night... uh, this morning. That worked well. So... carrots... he could probably take celery or, no, _hash browns_!"

Isshin laughed, "You think so? All that grease such a good idea, Ichigo?" he shook his head, "Celery is kind of acidic. Carrots, though, carrots are good. Keep going..." He left the room and Kurosaki followed, suggesting various vegetables for Baby Uryû to eat. Baby Uryû, whom they had just abandoned in the bedroom.

What just happened...? I sat down and sighed, crossing my arms and looking around a little. The room really was bare, apart from the silver lamp and white papers on the very simple desk. At least there was a window...

"'Morning, Uryû-kun!"

Never heard _that_ voice before...

"Do you feel better this morning? I really hope so!! Ichi-nii called last night and said he would be bringing you in this morning and we were all so worried since he didn't say anything about how you were! All we knew was how worried he sounded! Hmm... I thought you'd need your bandages changed, but you don't have any... We thought you'd be a little more roughed up since you got hit by a car! Well, I'm glad you're not, then! Want some breakfast?"

Well, this certainly had to be Yuzu. She was a cute girl, with a very young voice. But, I suppose, she was young. Maybe fifteen or sixteen. She wore a pretty yellow sundress, and her chin-length hair was pinned back by several flowery hair pins that were probably a little childish for a girl her age, but she got them to work.

"How did you know I was hit by a car...?"

"Oh! Ishida-san told us!"

Whaaaaat?!

"R-Ryûken told you? How did _he_...?" I shuddered. Damn, so he _was _still paying attention to me! He _did_ know about my failures and my current, pathetic state.

How enlightening.

"Ryûken? You shouldn't call your father by his name, Uryû-kun! That's so rude!" She was smiling right after her reprisal.

"Ah, yeah, uh-" Well, I certainly wasn't going to call him _anything _else.

"C'mon!" She skipped over to me and grabbed my (Ichigo's, I guess) sleeve and pulled me out, "It's time for breakfast!"

Baffled, I followed in silence as she led me to the table. I was embarrassed, but she sat me down right next to Kurosaki, and then hurried back into the kitchen.

"Hah! Look at 'im! He's in Ichigo's clothes!"

Another voice... _Karin_. I've only ever heard bad things about her...

"Shut up, it was either my clothes or the hospital's, and he'd already been in those for long enough!" Kurosaki yelled from beside me.

Again. Talking about me as if I were helpless (or not _there_) or something.

"Okay, Ichigo! You got an '_D_'! Maybe you should go ahead and think about another career..." Isshin strolled in and slammed a stack of papers in front of Kurosaki, who stared down at them blankly, "I was going to visit Ishida!" he yelled upon looking back up. 

"Homework comes before friends, Ichigo!"

"Oh, _whatever_!! You're always-" I failed to listen into this anymore when Karin, who was sitting across from me, addressed me a second time.

"You look like a nerd even in Ichigo's clothes, you know? Maybe it's the glasses. Or the way you sit. Your sitting up really straight. Ichigo, see? He slumps..." We both took a moment to marvel at Ichigo and all his beauty, "Ah, it works for him. But _you_. You're so nerdy! I bet it's 'cause you're so skinny..."

"Uh..." despite how insulting she was really being, I couldn't get angry. First of all, she was a girl. A mean, tough, tom-boy girl, but a girl nonetheless. Secondly, I was totally taken aback. I was still feeling puny and sick, and I'd just woken up from a maximum four hours of sleep and here some underage girl was giving me crap about how _nerdy _I looked. Lastly, she was Kurosaki's sister, and being snappish to her would ultimately be the last thing I did, I'm sure.

The males of the family continued to bicker and scream, Karin continued to talk at me obnoxiously ("Hey, _HEY! _You listenin', nerd!?"), and now Yuzu made her contribution with the smell of food. Had I been in good health, this food might have been the most marvelous smell I had ever lived to breathe, but- well- I _wasn't _in good health, and the smell of frying eggs and potatoes was making me, yet again, horribly nauseas. 

Of course, it was at this time that Yuzu strolled over with the plates and began setting them down in front of each of us respectively (actually, she was all fancy when she did it- she was really skilled at it), which caused everyone to finally shut up, which caused my headache to let up it's relentless attempts to knock me out.

"Okay!" She said, sitting next to her sister, "Dig in, everyone!"

Shaking, I picked up my glass of (unfortunately freezing, iced) water and held it close to me in both hands as I stared down at the unappetizing meal. No, no, Karin's cooking wasn't bad. It was great but... well, you've got the picture by now, I'm sure.

"All right! My favorite!" Isshin strolled over and sat on my other side, slapping me on the back roughly and pointed, "See that, there, Uryû?"

I almost gasped, but I forced an uneasy smile and, trembling still, wiped up the water he'd made me spill. I looked at what he was so ecstatic about and frowned. "Masaki... forever". _Okaaaay_. This family is insane. No wonder Kurosaki's always so angry.

"Who's Masaki...?" I said, trying not to be rude.

"That's Mom!!" Yuzu trilled piercingly, "Can't you tell!? Ichi looks exactly like her!" 

The Kurosaki in question grunted, "I'm not a _woman_," He said, annoyed.

So _this _was the woman who'd had Kurosaki so torn up. She was the one he'd been fighting for all those years back. She was... very pretty... and Kurosaki did have a lot in common with her... But why have a huge picture of their mother in the living room? It was kind of strange. All I had of Souken was my cross (my _cross_) and a small picture. Not a very good one, either. Better than the one Kurotsuchi had shown me, at least.

"I'm sorry," I said, bowing my head a little, "Umm... that's a very nice... picture."

I heard Kurosaki chuckling darkly beside me. I cast him a wayward glare before turning back to Isshin, but he was done with the whole thing and was already shoveling his eggs down his gullet like a starved man.

Um, okay.

Don't throw up, Uryû. You're already causing craploads of trouble for them. I just wanted my carrots... where were my carrots? _Kurosaki_? _Feed me_? I glanced at him, but he was eating (the same way as his father, actually. How attractive...) and completely unaware of everything else.

"You... don't like it, Uryû-kun?"

I have expected tears to be spilling over her eyes and her lip to be quivering. No, she simply appeared concerned.

"Oh, shit!! Sorry, Ishida!" He rocketed to his feet and sped over to the refrigerator.

Yuzu watched him, "Huh?"

"Sorry, Yuzu! He can't eat any of this stuff..." Kurosaki said, rummaging through the fridge's contents.

"I'm okay, Kurosaki. No need to _panic_," I bit my lip for a brief moment so I could restrain myself from smiling or laughing. Soon I was back to my deadpan uninterest.

"I _told you _to _tell me _when you need something!" He raged, coming out of the fridge with more carrots and some broccoli," He continued to yell at me as he cut the vegetables up and turned on the faucet. He ran a hand under it ("-never going to get better if you're always-!!") to make sure it was warm enough then caught the clear liquid in a cup. He turned the faucet off, set the cup aside, scooped the freshly cut vegetables into a purple bowl, returned the remainders to the fridge, then strolled over to me and slammed my rations down in front of me.

"-night you said you would just accept some help for once! I thought you were a man of your word and all, Ishida?" He glared at me, waiting for a reply.

I looked down at the food in front of me and wanted to- ugh- to... to _cry._

I just _was not used to this_.

I stared at it for a long time before addressing Kurosaki, "I didn't say I would ask for help, Kurosaki. There's a difference. You can't expect me to pester you for more hospitality after all of this-"

"What're you talking about!? I let you have the bed and I gave you a toothbrush... Really, Ishida, you must be crazy or something. You've gotta get a housemate before you kill yourself or something," He grumbled.

Maybe... maybe I _did _mind living alone. I had always told everyone that I preferred being alone, that I was fine with it. But maybe that wasn't the case. I mean, I wouldn't put it past me to simply say that so the others didn't feel obligated to invite me to the rooftop... or to their house...

"I _do _have a housemate. A roommate. Fujisawa-"

Kurosaki interrupted, "_Fujisawa_ is inefficient!"

He was... inefficient. _Yeah_...

"What are you talking-"

He interrupted again, "I hate him! How did he get into your college anyway? He's just a stupid drunk! Look what he just put you through! And _then _he tells me you _love him_!"

The family, which had been silently gawking at our bickering, broke out at this point.

Isshin laughed deeply and said something about my father...

Karin laughed too, "So _that's _why you look so nerdy!"

And Yuzu... "_Ichigo! _If this is what you want to talk about, take it somewhere else!"

Kurosaki stopped and looked at all of them, "Uh... yeah, we're going," he stood up, grabbed my elbow, and drug me away from the table. Isshin, who saw me reach desperately for my bowl at the last second, picked it up and handed it to me. I took it and wrenched myself out of his son's grasp, then followed him upstairs.

"Okay," Kurosaki said, sitting at his desk and letting me sit on the bed again, "And _then _he told me... you _love him_." 

I ate a carrot, "How could you think that? Didn't you see how I talked to him? I hate him as much as you do, Kurosaki. He's an idiot."

Kurosaki frowned, "Well, yeah, but I thought you were just mad that we'd found out you were- uh, gay."

I chuckled silently and shook my head, "Forgot to ask..." I said, smirking, "Why do you care if I love him or not?"

He frowned at me and leaned back, "Because I hate him and he's all wrong for you!"

Now.

_Now_, Uryû.

I stood up and walked over to where he sat, being sure to stare straight into his eyes the whole time. I leaned down towards him and even though I could tell he was about to protest and push me away, I had to say, "Then _who, _Ichigo, do you think is right for me?" I murmered quietly.

Kurosaki Ichigo grabbed my face in both of his hands and kissed me.

- END OF CHAPTER FOUR -

Please review, minna! Arigatou gozaimasu!!

OOPS!! _Sorry_! Cliffhanger ending, huh? Well, I was getting really sick of drawing this chapter out, so...

TEACHY-LESSON THINGAH!

Okay, when you have gastritis, you lose your appetite. That is why Uryû hadn't been eating. So, yeah. Who knows, maybe he's had gastritis for weeks! His whole _life_! Okay, maybe that's not possible, but I'm just saying... anyway, I (sorta, kinda, maybe not, actually) know what I'm talking about, since I looked it all up on the interwebs (LOLZ, _Wikipedia_)!! -nod, nod- Iiiiiiis proud.

I do think there was a lot of OOCness in this chapter. It's like I'm trying to write a crack-fic or something. I don't _want _this to be a crack-fic. Actually, I don't think I'd be very good at crack-fics... But about that OOCness. I'm still working on it, no worries! _And anyway_, I'm sorry for adding the gastritis on top of everything. I wasn't doing it for _more _drama. Nooope. I was doing it to set Ichigo and Uryû up for more meetings! Yay! This is also why I had to make the chapter so long, so they could talk and have stuff happen. If they didn't you guys'd probably get bored at the lack of love and the over abundance of angst and patheticness. Hope I succeeded in making this somewhat worthwhile...

BTW, I'm only on par with the anime in Japan. I've read a lot of the manga, too, but as of now the newest news for me is that some weirdo Espada named Patros has stolen teh Sousuke's precious. Wah, and somehow Ulquiorra was beaten instantly by those worms, but whatever, he was kinda cute in his defeat. I guess.

Dude, I type tons of shit before and after chapters, huh? I'm gonna try quitting that.


	5. HEY, READERS

THIS FIC WAS DEAD, BUT I HAVE BEGUN TO WORK MORE ON THE NEXT CHAPTER

THIS FIC WAS DEAD, BUT I HAVE BEGUN TO WORK MORE ON THE NEXT CHAPTER. REVIEW IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN UPDATES!


	6. COMING SOON!

Okay, guys

Okay, guys! You did it!

I'm going to update as soon as possible!


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